Harry Potter, Lord of the Net: THE RETURN
by Yoda
Summary: Stephen & Co. are back with Harry for another web adventure...please read the original before this if you haven't already, now enjoy and review!! *COMPLETE*
1. The Beginning

Harry Potter

A/N et al: You want a sequel – I'll give you a sequel! Whoooohahahahahaha. To everyone who read it the first time round, reviewed, and then asked for more, here you go: Lord of the Net, Bandy, Beth, Giesbrecht, Lunar Bard, Netsurfer77, Serene, Sir Weston Weasley and Voltora. Standard disclaimer applies; I don't own anything except the plot because J. K Rowling invented it all, although if I can create new characters I want 'em! At this point I apologise again if I made you a boy and you are a girl or vice versa, and also for some of the names that I have used as they may be nothing like your own – just call it severe artistic licence. I also disclaim any similarities between my work and numerous films/TVM as they are often a great influence on my writing. You asked for it, you got it, my Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you:

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Harry Potter

Lord of the Net

THE RETURN

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Chapter 1: The Beginning

__

~SWW and LOTN~ Program ended…thanks to all…signing off…catch you later.

Clicking disconnect on the forum Wes shut down the computer, together with his friends he'd brought back Stephen and Harry from a virtual world, and defeated some previously unknown evil. 'So what now?' he asked, his voice seeming very loud in the silence that had engulfed the room.

'Well…' Harry said to Stephen, 'thanks…I guess I'll go now…thanks for letting me use you computer.'

'Um…yeah…anytime.' Stephen replied equally uneasily.

'Thanks for your help as well…' Harry said to Wes.

'Wes,' he finished for him, 'it was…fun.'

'Say,' Stephen said as Harry shifted towards the door, 'you wanna get a drink or something, I'm…er, not really ready to go back on the net.'

'Me too,' said Wes, 'I think a drink would go down well.'

'Sure,' said Harry, and before he could stop it a smile appeared on his face, 'I could use a break…' with this Stephen switched off the computer screens and the three boys left the humming room, trouping down to the kitchen.

That had been two months ago, and now Stephen was back in school while Harry had returned to Hogwarts…life was dull. Well there was always the internet and webchat for Stephen, he especially looked forward to chatting with the other eight people, now called The Eight, who had brought him and Harry out of his PC during the summer. The best part for him though was that Wes, an eighth of The Eight lived next-door, and now instead of coming round to complain about his system crashing they were now talking more and each of them even looked forward to doing homework with the other. While life was not extraordinarily boring, the mind-numbingly dull routine of school was beginning to take its toll on Stephen and Wes, as well as their friends. Except for Harry, as he got to leave the Dursleys he was more then happy to return to Hogwarts, although this year he did miss his new friends he had to admit.

Yeah, life was beginning to drag, but on a sunny evening in November, Stephen and The Eight would have given anything to return to normal…

***

Harry lay dozing in an armchair in Gryffindor Tower, equally flaked out in chairs around a small table were Hermione and Ron, the day had been one of Harry's most energetic in his history of being taught at Hogwarts. First there had been Quidditch practice for two hours in the morning, then for lessons one and two he'd been through his Broomstick Proficiency Exam with the rest of the Gryffindors. He'd passed easily but had been almost falling off his Firebolt by the end, yawning and tripping he'd made his way to a double dose of Defence Against The Dark Arts where a lesson in curses had sent him running on a 14 mile marathon after Hermione shattered his Shield Charm. The final punishment of tiring day had been the long walk up to Divination followed by the horrifying announcement that Professor Trelawney was away and that for homework the class had to study the effects of scattered omens on themselves about the castle.

Now Harry lay in a deep dream that had initially consisted of a marathon but was now focused on his Muggle friends he'd left behind…odd, he'd never been able to picture the faces of the other seven before…

***

Beth stifled a yawn as she turned on her PC, god she hated chemistry homework, but now the evening was hers to surf on the net. As she waited for the file caches to reboot she noticed a flickering icon in the bottom left of her screen, _weird,_ she leant in and found it was a skull icon, _now how the hell did that get on my PC?_ Fingers flying over the keyboard she opened a debugger window then carefully watching for any anomalies she clicked on the icon…

***

__

Nothing, _it does absolutely bugger all,_ Mark Giesbrecht fumed at his PC, once again it had put unknown shortcuts onto his desktop, _I bet it's John doing this,_ he thought of his little brother who always tried to sneak in his room, _I need a better padlock on that door._

***

Beverly clicked repeatedly on the icon but still nothing happened, opening a chat window she signed in and returned her attention to the icon, again no reaction. Typing 'Voltora' into the signup box she read the Unicode as the chat room began to process her details, _always waiting…_

***

'Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!' shouted James a.k.a. Netsurfer77 as his computer failed to identify the new icon for the fiftieth time in twenty minutes, 'top of the range virus scan my bloody foot!' he shouted at the new program he'd installed the day before.

***

Basking in the light Katy a.k.a. Lunar Bard almost fell of her chair when the small icon in the bottom left of the screen exploded outwards in size. _So much for another quiet evening, now what virus is this, doesn't look like the Budweiser frogs or that valentine's day one…_

***

Ashley Marlston blinked rapidly, that icon was…_oh my God!_

***

Bandy sprayed juice over the floor when the icon appeared on her screen, then cursing rapidly to herself she brought up that chatroom where she had been waiting for the rest of her friends to put in an appearance. _Oh goddammit where are you guys?_

***

'Shall we sign on now then?' Wes asked Stephen who had been lost in thought.

'Huh? Yeah sure, I guess everyone will be on by now.' He replied in a lacklustre tone, god he was bored, then again everyone else was, what made him special? Yawning he turned on his screen and actually did fall over backwards when he saw the exploded icon. 'Wes! That's the Dark Mark!'

'Wha – oh dear God!' it had appeared on the computer he had booted up as well. Then the room lit up with an eerie flashing and a pop sounded in the boys' ears.

'Well, well, well…' crooned a sibilant voice, 'Lord of the Net and Sir Wesley Weston, it's an honour indeed.'

Fearing the worst Stephen turned to face the speaker, it was the Dark Wizard Voldemort whom he had met two months ago inside his computer. He now seemed even more real, from his fluidic black cloak to his blood red eyes above two snakelike nostril slits. 'What do you want?' he asked, amazed a tremble hadn't appeared in his voice.

'Simple Stephen, I want you and The Eight,' He stared down into the boy's eyes, 'say goodbye!'

***

With a loud yell Harry threw himself out of his chair as his scar woke him up with a deep and burning pain, 'STEPHEN!' he shouted, then with a shout of alarm from Ron he collapsed on the floor.

***

Sir Wesley Weston Everybody logoff and get out of yo– error 593: Host removed

–=Netsurfer77=– Whoa, what's biting him?

* beth * Are you guys getting this weird icon?

[Lunar Bard] I've seen it before…

^Bandy^ It's like, taken over my screen.

(Serene) Get off your computers and away, that's the Dark Mark sign.

{Voltora} Holy – error 593: Host removed

+Giesbrecht+ He's back again!

***

'Poppy what's wrong with him?' asked Albus Dumbledore as Harry lay quietly sweating on a hospital bed.

'I don't know headmaster,' replied the school nurse, 'I can't find these symptoms anywhere.'

'Did he say anything?' Dumbledore put the question to an ashen faced Ron who just stuttered in response.

'He shouted out the name Stephen,' Hermione replied for her dumbstruck friend.

'That's Lord of the Net,' Dumbledore said with a hint of worry, 'something's happened…Hermione, Ron, please come with me, it's time to go back online.'

***

In Harry's mind the he saw Voldemort transport away Stephen and Wes and Beverly, inwardly struggling he watched as the chat list filled with 'error 593: Host removed' until Voldemort had taken all of The Eight and Lord of the Net, _how? We deleted him? HOW? _Outside his motionless body Madam Pomfrey watched as Harry gritted his teeth and sweated against the pain.

***

'ARRRRRRGGGH!' and with a loud THUMP Stephen and Wes landed. Groaning they picked themselves up, 'I'm alive' shouted Wes in exuberance, then he looked around; 'arrrrrrgggh!' he said again. The boys were in a musty cavern very similar to the digital image where Harry and Stephen had fought Voldemort during the summer.

'Do you hear that?' Stephen asked Wes as a low rumbling sounded very near to them, in response he got a quiet nod.

With a bright flash another person flew out of the wall and landed on top of a shell-shocked Stephen, 'What in god's holy name is going on?' shouted Beverly as she pulled herself off of Stephen. 'And who the hell are you?'

'I'm…Lord of the Net,' He replied while watching her darting eyes, 'that's Sir Wesley Weston, who the hell are you?'

'Wait, are you saying? No!' Beverly looked like she could kick something very hard so Stephen took a step backwards, 'it can't be…I'm, I'm Voltora.' Another low rumbling sounded and Stephen pulled her away from the entrance as more people slowly came flying through; 'Serene, Lunar Bard, Netsurfer77, Beth, Giesbrecht and Bandy' Stephen said as the cave filled up. 'He's got us, so what does he want?'

***

Harry's eyes snapped open and focused on the first person he could find causing Madam Pomfrey to shriek when he quietly said her name, breathing heavily he gave her all the information he could in a single sentence; 'Tell Dumbledore that He's back…and that He took my friends.' After saying this he faded back into a blissful unconsciousness where no more images would haunt him.

***

'Dumbledore that's what he said,' explained Madam Pomfrey for the fifth time, 'now if you'll excuse me I want to get back to my patient.' With this she left the Muggle Studies office where Dumbledore, Ron and Hermione sat around a computer with Professor Mysis.

'So how exactly does this work?' Hermione asked the Professor while Ron watched the screen in a state of amazement and disbelief, 'I thought that no Muggle equipment could work around Hogwarts.'

'That's true for the entire school,' answered Mysis, 'except this room and the feeder tube for the cable to the PC. After last year Dumbledore decided he would like to stay in contact with fellow spirits by the internet rather than by owl mail, the reasons for this are obvious. We constructed the pathway for the cable, removed the Anti-Elektricity Charm and _voila_, the school has a computer.'

'But Muggles still can't find it?' persisted Hermione.

'Well, there was a possibility of some people running a trace, but between Dumbledore and myself we created an Advanced Firewall, it's a program that normally prevents viruses or hackers gaining access to your computer. We altered it so that anyone tracing back here is automatically told we live in Iceland, then by Dumbledore's part of the program their computer is shut down, it was quite fun testing it worked, we asked a Gringotts' official to try and hack in.'

'I hate to interrupt,' Dumbledore interjected suddenly, 'but we have a problem. Voldemort is back, and he's taken several Muggles hostage, Mysis they were the ones who helped us last year.'

'Not Stephen and Wesley?'

'I'm afraid so, something must be done…I do not know what.'

'I do,' Harry muttered, leaning heavily against the doorway.


	2. Back to the Web

Harry Potter

A/N: If I mucked up on genders again – I'm so…so…sorry! Particularly to Giesbrecht and Bandy whose profiles I haven't been able to check – but you have to appreciate the reason for the roughly equal male : female ratio in the story, equal opportunities, rights for all, etc...[God I'm such an economist!]. Right, demand for chapter 2 then…

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Harry Potter

Lord of the Net

THE RETURN

Chapter 2: Back to the Web

'Harry you shouldn't be here,' Dumbledore mused mildly, 'whatever will Poppy say now?'

'She'll fuss as usual and get on with something else instead,' Harry answered with a small grin.

'Again I find my wisdom is no match for your youth,' Dumbledore replied heartily before guiding Harry into a chair. 'Now Harry, what do we have to do?'

'Put me back in.'

'Out of the question,' it was Mysis who interrupted and not Dumbledore, 'there is no way you would survive in there, the state you're in, a simple virus could literally delete you.'

'It's what has to be done,' Harry replied firmly, his breathing still ragged.

'I'm afraid Mysis is right Harry,' Dumbledore said stepping between the two, 'she has told me all about the internet since the summer, I cannot allow you to go.'

'Then they'll die.'

***

'Are we gonna die?' Wes whispered the question to Stephen.

'Dunno,' he replied, 'do you think that's what he wants?'

'Who?'

'Voldemort,' Stephen replied while trying not to laugh, 'remember…he's the evil bugger who bought us all here.'

'Oh yeah…'

'I'll tell you one thing though,' Stephen continued.

'What's that?'

'Harry will never stand for it.'

***

No matter how hard he tried Harry found he couldn't stand for anything, even sitting was a gross pain, he'd never had such a strong attack before when Voldemort had been in such a vindictive mood, maybe it was the new blood-link between them playing a part. 'Look,' he shouted over the argument that had grown with Ron and Hermione siding with Harry or the teachers respectively, 'either I go and they stand a chance of living or we leave them to die!'

'But we can always–'

'Always what Hermione?' Harry retorted, 'wait and see what happens? And how would the parents of my friends feel if they see the bodies of their children flashed all over the news and internet?'

'I don't think Voldemort would go that far Harry,' she replied.

'You're right Hermione,' Harry said sarcastically, 'maybe he'll just emblazon their houses with a Dark Mark or two.' Breathing hard he stared into his friend's face and was surprised but also pleased to see Hermione return the gaze with equal force.

'Fine,' she said after a few minutes, 'there's a way we can solve this straight away…send me in.'

'WHAT!' the explosive reply came from both Ron and Harry at the same time.

'Send me in, I'm a Muggle too remember, I spent quite a few years of my life being amazed by the magic of a computer before I found out about real magic, then that took over.'

'All the same – you just can't go apparating yourself into a computer,' Ron replied, he was slightly pale at the idea of another of his friends going into another Muggle machine.

'Good idea Ron,' Hermione replied, 'you can come in with me.'

***

'You're assuming that Harry's all right,' Wes replied in a sombre tone to Stephen's comment, 'what if all the good wizards in the world are dead and Voldemort has taken over?'

'You think none of them would have contacted us?'

'The may not have had the chance,' Wes continued, 'he could have killed them all like that,' he snapped his fingers loudly in the cave, 'we can't assume anything.'

'Yeah,' Stephen replied, almost riled at Wes's boldness, 'well we can believe what we want.'

'And what do you believe that will help us?' asked Wes.

'I believe that someone will bring us back.'

***

'NO!' Ron shouted, 'and for the last time I will not be dragged into one of those bloody machines.'

'Look,' Hermione continued, staring down her taller friend, 'if it wasn't for Harry's friends we may not even be here, and now you just want to leave them to Voldemort.' Ron flinched as usual at the use of the name in such a context but continued to ignore his friend's tirade. 'The problem isn't just going to disappear Ron,' she continued, 'you remember what happened to Cedric,' Ron tried to look away from his friend but her voice pulled him back, 'Voldemort killed him without a thought, and now…now he'll do the same to Harry's friends.'

'Ron,' Harry's voice croaked and again Ron felt unable to look away, turning he gazed deep into Harry's eyes and saw the pain that existed in his friend, 'you have to…please…I don't want to lose any more friends.'

Ron turned between Harry and Hermione then turned to look at Dumbledore and Mysis who did very good impressions of flooring tile collectors, he was stuck. 'Fine,' he whispered hoarsely, trying to hide the quiver in his voice, 'you just better make sure you don't lose us.'

***

'So anyone got any bright ideas?' James asked for the fifth time in a row.

'Look, just drop it, okay 77?' Bandy snapped.

'My name is–'

'SHUTTIT!' Stephen shouted in unison with Wes and Beverly. 'Right, Netsurfer we all know what your real name is, but for now I don't think we should use them.'

'Why?' asked Ashley.

'I think that,' Stephen looked flustered with everyone focusing on him, 'and this will sound stupid, that anything we say can be heard.'

'I agree,' said Katy, 'hell anything's possible.'

'So we call each other by our web names,' said Giesbrecht, 'the problem for me is that my names are both the same.'

'Lucky for me it's entirely the opposite to that,' Stephen replied, 'Lord of the Net is nowhere near my real name.'

'Well,' Wes said, 'looks like I'm in Giesbrecht's situation.'

'Same here,' said Beth, 'although you could all call me Liz…but then I'd have to punch you.' She added causing an outbreak of laughter in the small cave where they were being held.

Suddenly a quiet clapping cut through the jubilant atmosphere, 'Very amusing I'm sure…Liz,' from the shadows Lord Voldemort stepped out a wall causing most of the group to step back. 'Not so amusing is it now? Would you like to try and punch me?' laughing sinisterly he elevated his wand arm and began to wave it over the group, 'now where was I, I'm getting bored now…who wants to go first?'

***

'Ready?' Hermione asked Ron who was pale beneath his freckles.

'I guess so,' he replied with a small nod, 'are you sure this will work Harry?'

'Hey,' he replied to his friend, 'if I'm half Muggle and half wizard and managed to survive, and you two are whole Muggle and whole wizard there should be no problems at all.' Behind him Mysis was hacking into Stephen's web mainframe so she could run a source check on Voldemort's bug.

'Bingo!' she muttered as the page with the small icon popped up, then just as before it spread to the whole screen. 'Just touch it with the mouse to get in I expect Hermione, Ron you'll have to hold onto her or it may not work.'

'Be careful in there,' Dumbledore said to his two young students as they stood by the machine, 'and just remember that there's no Muggles to help this time.' With this he stepped back giving Hermione and Ron space to disappear within the machine.

'Get ready for the ride of your lives,' Harry said as Hermione moved the mouse arrow over the icon, then she turned to face Ron, with a nod from him he grasped her hand and together they pushed down the mouse button. Nothing happened. 'Um…that's not right.'

***

'What do you mean, who's first?' Stephen asked Voldemort boldly.

'Speak when you're spoken to you little Muggle rat,' Voldemort spat, and aimed his wand at Stephen, '_Reducto,'_ he hissed and the blast sent the boy slamming into the wall.

'You evil git!' Wes shouted and with a raised fist he charged towards the Dark Wizard, again Voldemort sent a blasting curse outwards catching Wes in his stomach and sending him backwards into the arms of Voltora and Giesbrecht. Over to their left Lunar Bard and Bandy picked up a shaken Stephen, who was bleeding from a deep cut in the back of his head.

'Well, only two heroes in the entire group,' Voldemort muttered, 'or are any of you willing to take a chance?' he swept the wand over everyone else and as satisfied when no one else even looked him in the eye. 'I'll be back you pitiful wretches.'

***

Ron and Hermione were suddenly aware that they still held each others hands and hurriedly released them with embarrassed looks that everyone else missed. 'I don't understand,' Mysis continued as she returned to working the keyboard with rapid typing, 'this is just…illogical.'

'Everything Voldemort does is illogical,' Dumbledore muttered, 'delving into the dark arts, trying to take over the world, killing and ruining the lives of all.'

Breathing hardly Harry moved over to the computer screen and clicked on the icon repeatedly, 'But the Professor is right sir, even Voldemort would have a logical way in.' Leaning in closely Harry began to study the screen as Mysis, Dumbledore and his friends continued to debate the conundrum that had confronted them. It was actually quite amazing Harry thought as he studied the screen, the icon had a very realistic look, the snake crawling through the skull seemed to shimmer before his eyes while the harsh bone shone under the lights, and the eyes, there was something about them. Moving further in he peered into one of the eyes and caught his breath when he realised what he was seeing, in the single dot that was the sparkle in an eye was the cave where he had confronted Voldemort with Stephen during the summer. 'Hey guys,' he said, 'look at this,' and he pointed to the point on the screen, then in a whirl of colours Harry found himself flying into the skull, 'n-n-n-n-not a-a-a-ag-again,' he stuttered as he began to fly towards the cave.

***

'Hear that?' asked a groggy Stephen as a low rumbling sounded in the cave, but everyone else was more focused on him then to see the wall behind them shimmer and merge as a flailing silhouette moved in towards them. Using all his strength Stephen pulled himself up and gave Voltora a sharp push sending her stumbling towards the digital vortex, 'Get out!' he shouted and as the first shadowy figure moved in, Voltora was sent flying back out of the wall.

***

Ron and Hermione blinked their eyes as the girl tumbled off the desk and into the chair where Harry had been sitting, 'what's…' Ron started, then with a shake of his head he realised he didn't actually want to know what was going on.

***

Wiping blood from his chin Harry stared up into eight faces that were strangely familiar, then eager hands lifted him up and he found himself facing Wes and Stephen, 'nice to see you again,' he said light-headedly, then with a small exhalation he pitched forwards again.

'Told you he'd come,' Stephen said to Wes.

'And he does like to make an entrance,' the other boy observed, 'now what?

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A/N: You'll never know what until I do the next chapter – whooooooohahahahahahaha – ahem. Sorry, forgot I'm the author of a serious story. Well I'm hoping you enjoyed this chapter and that it was worth the wait for it, sorry it took so long, I am writing two major stories at the same time [this and the Siege] and soon I'll probably be writing some more short stories. But have no fear, I will once again [hopefully] make the wait worthwhile.


	3. Plans

A/N: You should all probably know that I started writing this on September 12th and so the crashing of ff

A/N: You should all probably know that I started writing this on September 12th and so the crashing of ff.net is nothing to do with it being so late as I could have done it all ages ago but then I had to get a job and do some work and collect my A-levels [I'm going to Exeter baby!] and panic and go to Paris on holiday and generally get so overexcited that I just splurge like this and run out of breath from talking so muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccccccccccccccch…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Enjoy.

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Harry Potter

Lord of the Net

THE RETURN

Chapter 3: Plans

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHH!' Voltora shouted as she sat stunned in the seat by the computer she had recently evacuated.

'Nice to meet you too Beverly,' Dumbledore said calmly before she could open her mouth and scream again.

'Aaaaah – huh? How do you know my name is Beverly?'

'Because I am Albus Dumbledore, you should remember me from a little known adventure you took part in a few months ago…'

'You mean…' eyes widening as she looked around the room.

'Welcome to Hogwarts.'

A few minutes of silence ensued before Voltora spoke again, 'it looks just like my school in here.' 

***

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHH!' shouted Harry as he suddenly regained consciousness and found himself staring at a rather large spider only inches from his nose. With surprising swiftness a trainer squashed the bug and following the leg Harry stared up into the smiling, yet somehow anxious face of Stephen. 'Now that was a wild ride,' he muttered as willing hands picked him up off the floor, 'it feels like there's a rat tap-dancing on my brain.'

'Well there is one on your head come to mention it,' Wes replied as he began dusting Harry down but was interrupted by the young wizard doing a remarkable jig in an attempt to remove the rat from his hair. A few seconds later [following a dismayed squeak] Harry sat down and became aware he was the centre of attention again.

'Where am I?' he asked, desperate to break the unsettling silence.

'Dunno,' replied Netsurfer.

'How did I get here?'

'Beats me,' Bandy answered.

'Who are you?'

'Oh right,' Stephen said, 'you only know me and Wes, that's Serene, Bandy, Netsurfer77–'

'Do they have real names?'

'Yeah but he'll hear,' Wes took over the naming process, 'Lunar Bard, Beth with the stars–' 

'Who will hear?'

'Voldemort,' said Giesbrecht, 'and my names Giesbrecht by the way.'

'HE'S here?' Harry said with a look of shock.

'Well not here,' Stephen said with a worried look to Wes, 'not yet at least…'

***

'Um…how did I get here?' asked Voltora after getting a bearing on her surroundings.

'No idea,' Dumbledore replied lightly, 'by the way these are Harry's friends Ron and Hermione,' he gestured and the two waved dumbly. 'This is Professor Mysis,' he gestured again, 'and we're all hoping that now you're hear you can help.'

'How?'

'By getting us into that machine. Harry's in no state, he went in and you popped out, but he just suffered an attack from Voldemort's kidnapping of your friends and yourself.'

'Well how did he get in?' asked Beverly.

'He pointed at the screen,' Ron replied, 'it was in one of the eyes on the Dark Mark.'

'Of course,' Dumbledore cut in smoothly, 'the real question is how did you get out…?'

***

'And that's what happened,' Harry finished unaware that on the other side of reality the same events were unfolding. 'Isn't one of you missing? There should be nine of you…I count eight.'

'Voltora!' Serene said, snapping her fingers, 'Stephen didn't you push her out?'

'When Harry popped in…she must be on the outside!'

'That means she can get help,' Wes joined in the conversation quickly, 'Harry where were you before you…you…you know.'

'In my school.'

'Oh dear,' Bandy said, 'that means no help right?'

'Wrong,' Harry replied, 'my friends and headteacher were with me…of course they probably don't understand what happened.'

'But Voltora can tell them right?' Lunar Bard cut in.

'Um…the odds of them understanding are gonna be quite low,' Stephen said, 'they don't really use computers, or any electrical stuff…'

'Except for Hermione,' Harry stated. 'She grew up like a Muggle until she joined Hogwarts, she's still a Muggle at home, like me. She can help.'

'And don't forget Voltora,' Giesbrecht added, 'she's one of us too.'

***

'Look at that,' breathed Voltora, 'I can see everyone in the eye, it's like an entrance to the grotto.'

'What's in the other eye?' Hermione asked, 'I can see something in there twinkling as well.'

'It looks…' Professor Mysis was leaning in beside Voltora, 'I can't actually tell,' moving in she almost touched the screen with her nose before Dumbledore placed a hand on her shoulder.

'Don't touch the screen Mysis,' he whispered, 'you saw what happened to Harry.'

'I won't Albus, I just need to let my eyes focus.' Leaning in again Mysis examined the screen where she saw another part of the caves entirely, and strolling around inside was, 'oh my God.' With a lurch in her stomach she realised that Voldemort was now staring directly at her, with surprising speed the small digital image whipped out a wand and sent a green beam shooting towards her.

'MOVE!' shouted Dumbledore and pulled her chair over backwards as the beam metamorphosed from digital image to stark reality as it shot from the eye of the Dark Mark. Ducking apart Ron and Hermione were inches away from being struck by the beam as it ploughed into the wall behind them. Whipping out his wand Dumbledore returned fire with a golden beam that also transformed as it struck the screen, 'Beverly, you have to get everyone else out now, that's where he'll be heading.'

'We have to send someone in to get the portal working though!' she replied as she studied the screen.

'Ron, Hermione, go with her and get them back – now!' Dumbledore shouted as a high pitched whining began to emit from the computer, 'it won't handle much more of this damage.

'Hands together, touch the eye on three!' Voltora said as Ron and Hermione joined her, '1…2…3!' and as one they placed their fingers on the eye. With a whirl of colours and a tugging behind their bellies the three were sent flying into the screen with a blinding flash.

***

'Look!' Serene shouted while they all grouped around, 'it's happening again!'

'There must be more people coming in!' Harry shouted over the thumping noise, 'that's our only chance of getting out, all of you get by where the portal is, we'll have to grab them and jump out together.' The silhouettes became clearer as the wall's digital features began to merge with the real surface, and with a sudden shout of surprise; Ron, Hermione and Voltora came flying through, 'GRAB THEM AND GO!' he shouted as a high pitched whining suddenly cut into the cave as the portal opened.

The others needed no instruction to jump through and with careful hands Giesbrecht and Bandy caught Voltora in time to lift her back the other way, as she left Harry heard a phrase he had used a little while before hand: 'n-n-n-n-not a-a-a-ag-again.' With a thump Ron landed beside him and he had just enough time to mutter a garbled 'hi' before Harry lifted him up and readied to jump through the portal, then everything went to hell…

A/N: okay so it isn't a normal cliffhanger but what the hell, I hope you're all having fun reading this and I will strive to finish it soon, I'm only sorry that it's going to be shorter than the original [but hopefully it's just as good for you all.] Okay you know what comes next: read and review as per norm plz J . Yoda.


	4. Battle for the Web

Harry Potter ****

Harry Potter

Lord of the Net

THE RETURN

Chapter 4: Battle for the Web

With a mad scream Voldemort erupted through a wall as Serene and Lunar Bard jumped into the portal, Wes, Stephen, Netsurfer, Harry, Ron and Hermione were still waiting to go when he landed right behind them. 'Move! Get into the portal!' Harry had time to shout this brief warning before a bright red spell tore apart the rock above his head and sent him flying across the small cavern. Acting with speed and quick actions rather than thinking Ron grabbed Wes and Stephen by the shoulders and pushed them through as Hermione directed a dazed Netsurfer who had been hit by a piece of the rock, they were about to run for Harry when Voldemort turned his attention to the portal behind them.

__

'Stupefy!' he shouted and rather than put the stunning beam into the young wizard and witch he sent it through the portal as it began to close, 'so much for your help Potter!' he shouted in his shrill voice as the beam diffused through the barrier.

***

'Whoooooooooaaaaaaaaaa-ooof!' exclaimed James as he rather loudly landed on top of Stephen and Wes who had just finished untangling themselves.

'I think all the bones in my body are broken,' Ashley muttered to Mark as they sat against a wall opposite the computer screen.

'I think all my broken bones are broken,' he said in return with a wry grin that swiftly faded as the screen in front of them turned a bright green, 'what the hell?!'

'It's a stunner!' Mysis shouted and tackled James as he stood up, but the others were too slow to move and the green spell enveloped them as it burst from the screen.

'Move!' Mark shouted to Ashley as it headed towards them and with a quick shove he sent her the other way as the spell hit the wall between them, leaving an ugly scar, 'ouch,' Mark said, whistling at the damage. Across the room Dumbledore was conjuring stretchers for Stephen, Wes, Katy, and Bandy [because I never gave her an actual name]. As he did this a dazed Beverly stumbled in from outside the room supporting Beth who had come flying out the screen and sent the both of them cart-wheeling into the hall. As Mark returned to his sitting position he looked back at the screen where the portal in the eye had now sealed itself up, 'um…where's Harry?'

'Go to the hospital wing,' Dumbledore muttered as the lead stretcher began to slowly move out of the room and was swiftly followed by the others, 'it appears Harry and his friends didn't make this trip, and now they're in trouble, I doubt it was them who sent that Stunning Jinx through the portal.'

'You're right,' James replied as he and Mysis picked themselves up, 'it was Voldemort, he arrived before me and Wes and Steve came through, I don't…know…what–' but the computer made him stop. The high pitched whining had suddenly stopped, it had been a startling presence for a while but only now did they all notice it's absence.

'That can't be good,' Ashley said as the monitor suddenly flashed out with a small 'blip'.

'Mysis?' Dumbledore questioned his Professor.

'I can run a computer Dumbledore, I can't fix it!' she replied with a tremor of fear in her voice.

'Good job we can,' mark said and dove under the desk where he found the mess of wires and cables that did not look good, 'I could use some help here guys…' and soon the remaining five of The Eight were at work on the silent machine.

'Hurry,' Dumbledore muttered to himself, 'hurry before it's too late.'

***

'Hermione,' Ron breathed as Voldemort stared at the closing portal.

'What?' she breathed back.

'RUN!' and with a burst of speed Ron sprinted across the cave grabbed Harry's body and tumbled into a handy crevasse as another of the red spells shattered the rock face above him. Distracted by this Voldemort missed Hermione run the opposite way, and back through the rock face he had emerged from earlier. 'Wake up Harry,' Ron muttered as small rocks began to shower down on him as Voldemort destroyed more and more of the cliff face above them, 'stop playing around and WAKE UP!' Ron shouted the last bit as a great cloud of dust envelope him and Harry as a giant rock tumbled to the floor beside them.

__

'Expelliarmus!' Harry shouted waving his wand wildly and Ron ducked the beam that shot out as his friend suddenly regained consciousness, but looking over his shoulder he saw another boulder shatter as the beam hit it, maybe it hadn't been a random wave.

'Nice shot!' he said to Harry who had moved to a sitting position as another dust cloud covered them.

'Compliment later,' Harry replied, giving Ron a quick shove out of the crevasse, 'run now!'

'Good idea,' and with a burst of speed the two wizards ran out of the crevasse as another large boulder smashed into the spot where they had been sitting a few seconds before.

'I see you Potter!' came a mad scream and diving to the floor Harry narrowly missed a green spell that wove a wild path through the dusty air, 'you and Weasley cannot hope to hide from me!'

***

'Move that connector to this port!'

'And…?'

'And what?'

'Well it needs to be plugged into something.'

'What do you think the damned port is for?!'

'I've got the monitor back!'

'Perfect, now I can see the code I have to break, fun guessing wasn't it though?'

'Yeah, fun like you mum cutting your hair, isn't that an reducing algorithm pattern?'

'Could be…'

'Hey! Where's the monitor gone?'

'Sorry! Sorry!'

'Back to guess work, at least we know what algorithm.'

'There's another end on this connector – where's that supposed to go – the same port?'

'No! This end to the port, that end to the thingummy!'

'Thingummy?!'

'Yeah!'

'Real technical conversation there guys.'

'Hey, you worry about the monitor and we'll do this our way – not that way!'

'You said thingummy and that's the flipping thingummy!'

'Monitor up!'

'Yes!'

'Monitor down!'

'No!'

'I think I've got the code sequence.'

'Good, now if I could see the entry log…'

'Turn the brightness up to max!'

'What good is that if the monitors gone?!'

'I don't know, but it can't hurt!'

'Okay, okay!'

'HEY, WHERE'S THE BLOODY POWER GONE?!'

'Turn it down! Turn it down!'

'The whole monitors wired up backwards!'

'Has anyone tried hitting it?'

***

With a thump the cavern Hermione had entered shook violently, but no more rocks fell and soon the witch found what she was looking for, Voldemort's lair, cut away into the wall of the cavern, surely this would tell her how to get out? Gingerly moving forward she stopped when two familiar yells reached her ears, turning round she was in time to see a massive cloud of dust explode through the wall she had come through, with Ron and Harry being ejected from it's body. 'Nice to see you,' she said as they landed at her feet.

'To see you nice,' said Harry, remembering the catchphrase from the little TV he watched at the Dursleys.

'I've found his lair.'

'Great,' Ron said as he lifted himself up, 'does it have any instructions on how to get out of here?'

'I don't know, I was just about to look when you two made a grand entrance.'

'Well hadn't you better start looking?'

'Well I will if you shut up!'

'QUIET!' Harry shouted before the two began a bickering match, 'lets just go and look before he gets here, huh?'

'Ok,' the duo replied quietly and moving quickly they found the entrance to a smaller cavern that led off from the main system of caves.

'Wow…' Harry whispered as they entered, the place was like, 'wow.'

'I've never seen so many computers,' Ron muttered, 'it must have been a Muggle place before he took it over.'

'It's like a mission-control base for a space program,' Hermione replied by way of agreeing.

'Or an evil megalomaniac control program,' Harry added as he noted the Dark Mark that appeared on most of the screens.

'Hey look!' Ron's sudden shout made Harry jump a bit but he went over to the screen that Ron had found, it was like a picture of the room outside the computer.

'This must be where Voldemort launched his curse from,' Hermione said to Ron while Harry continued to study the screen.

'It can't be, otherwise Mysis would have told us about all the computers,' Ron replied, 'this is something else.'

'I don't like they way he said that,' Harry muttered as he studied the screen, 'come on guys, what in the hell is going on out there?' but all further thought was stopped in Harry's head when a mad screaming suddenly echoed into the room, it looked like the battle for the web was on again…

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A/N: So kinda YAY! It isn't the final chapter, but kinda BOO! Is that things do not look good for the good guys, and I hope I got all the terminology right and you'll notice I didn't put names by the frantic fixing sequence. This was for two reasons: 1) some of you 'involved' may actually know how to fix a computer and 2) it's more fun. I hope you enjoyed this…but what happens next? [and possibly last?]


	5. Endgame

A/N: FINAL CHAPTER TIME

A/N: FINAL CHAPTER TIME! Will good triumph over evil? Will I remember the storyline? Will Lord of the Net and three of the Eight be okay? Will the other five-eighths of the Eight fix the computer? Will Harry, Ron and Hermione escape from Voldemort? Will Voldemort finally bite the proverbial bullet? Will there be another sequel? Will I ever get on with this story before I start on another? Answers to all these questions and more in [and after]:

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****

Harry Potter

Lord of the Net

THE RETURN

Chapter 5: Endgame

'RUN!' Harry shouted as a red beam shot from the main cavern into the smaller one that held Voldemort's lair and the trio's hiding place, as the beam hit Harry dove into a small gap as the ceiling began to let loose small rocks, across the room he saw Hermione and Ron also dive. _This is something else_ Ron had said, and while Harry hadn't liked it then he definitely didn't like it now, if this wasn't the other exit from the caves then where was it? And why hadn't anyone on the outside tried to get back in? Had the Stunning Curse actually hit them all?

***

In the hospital wing Stephen awoke with a sudden gasp as the cure for the stunner was administered, not actually having total control over his eyes meant that they whirled around the room but eventually he focused on an elderly witch who was sitting beside Wes. _'Enervate'_ she spoke and with a similar gasp Wes awoke as Stephen had earlier.

'Um…excuse me?' he said to the witch, 'but where am I?'

'You are in the hospital wing of Hogwarts Academy,' replied Madam Pomfrey as she moved beside Katy's bed and held her wand ready for the charm, 'you arrived by stretcher a few moments ago.'

'By…stretcher? Okay.'

'Yes, it was rather a surprise for me too, then I realised you must be the Muggle children who Albus and Mysis are trying to save, as well as Mr. Potter, honestly the scrapes he gets into. He was here about half an hour before you, then he runs off to Mysis's office without a word.' Preparing the charm again she turned back to Stephen to continue discussing Harry's mischief but the bed was empty, leaving only a barely conscious Wes to look at her with bemused puzzlement on his face. 'I suppose you'll want to know where you are now as well?'

***

'Monitor up!'

'How did you do that?'

'Well as hitting didn't work I threatened it with this vase of water.'

'Funny.'

'Thank you, I kicked it.'

'Will you please stop kicking the computer, not the least cos we're under it!'

'Look at the code, it's definitely a reducing algorithm.'

'Reducing to what?'

'Zero obviously.'

'Nobody likes a smart-alec.'

'Hey, it's just a guess, my speciality are hard drives, speaking of which…'

'What…?'

'Well it should be switching on.'

'What haven't you plugged in now?'

'Well it isn't a thingummy let me tell you that!'

'Quit with the thingummy accusations will you?'

'Fine, let's just get this up.'

'Suits me.'

'And me! I've cracked the code.'

'Excellent! Now we just need to wait for the hard drive to boot up and we can go.'

'Shouldn't the computer be booted up before the monitor can be on?'

'Yeah…but…'

'Are you saying we don't need to change anything down here?'

'It's a wizard computer, of course it can be both of and on!'

'And you know that for sure?'

'Well it's not letting us enter the code, it says hard drive down!'

'FINE! Just fix the hard drive and we can go – like I said.'

'Right, all we need to do is plug in the thingamajig and then we can.'

'THINGAMAJIG!'

'You two aren't on that again?!'

'I mean plug the damned plug in!'

'What plug, there's about twenty under here!'

'You mean this plug,' Stephen said as he connected the hard drive up to the mains, and with a hum the system came online. 'And Mark – thingamajig – we need to have a word.'

'Yeah, yeah, it's just nice to see you're okay.'

'I've got the code entered,' Katy said as Stephen leaned over the desk to look down on Mark, 'we should get that icon back any second.'

'Let's just hope were we quick enough,' James said to Dumbledore and Mysis who had been watching on the whole time in silence.

***

Inside the cave Harry was almost choking on the dust and was preparing for a mad dash out the exit when a teasing and malicious voice shouted through; 'Hello Potter! I know you and your friends are in there – ready to die yet?'

'Drop dead!' Ron shouted out towards the voice.

'Too late for that Ronald!' Voldemort shouted back shrilly, 'I already have done once, but this time it's your turn…'

'MOVE RON!' Harry bellowed and as his friend dove out from cover a vicious red beam sliced apart the alcove he had been sheltering in a second before hand, thinking quickly Harry also dove from his cover as the beam began to move over to where Voldemort guessed his voice had come from. 'We need a plan,' he muttered to his friends as he landed beside Hermione's hiding spot where Ron had also finished his dive, 'any ideas?'

'You're the brains of the operation aren't you?' Ron said as a new dust cloud began to fall from the ceiling onto them.

'Yeah,' Hermione agreed, 'I mean, you've done this before haven't you?'

'Done what?' Harry exclaimed, 'last time Sirius and Dumbledore and Arabella turned up to fight Voldemort, this time it's us!'

'I can see how this is different,' Hermione agreed in a strange tone, 'but you're still the one with first hand experience of being inside a computer game.'

'Yeah, but it's hardly like I can say _'I'll have a sword to fight him with'_ and have it appear in my hand!' he replied, waving his arm around when a blinding white flash lit the room.

'Do you think I could have a dragon to go with that?' Ron wondered as Harry stared in shock at the blade in his hand.

***

'Look at his face!' Ashley said, 'I'd laugh if this wasn't all so serious!' then she and Katy laughed anyway, following Stephen's lead, the three patients in the hospital wing had now joined Dumbledore, Mysis and the others in the room.

Sitting at the keyboard Stephen smiled, 'Pretty slick' Wes said over his shoulder, 'now how about we help them tie this up?'

'Hell yeah,' Stephen replied in agreement, 'do you think I should give him a dragon?'

'A large mirror would do the trick at the moment,' Dumbledore said as he stared at the pictures before him, somehow Stephen had managed to create multiple windows that showed larger images of what was happening in the caves.

'One mirror, coming right up,' Lord of the Net muttered to himself as he typed steadily on the keyboard.

***

'Just a small dragon would do?' Ron said suggestively to the air around him as if Stephen and the others were in the cave with him. Instead after another blinding flash he found a large mirror in his grasp. 'This is not what I had in mind!' he shouted to no one in particular.

'Ron!' Hermione fumed, 'stop thinking about using it on your hair and turn it to face the entrance.'

'Why?' asked Harry and Ron simultaneously, both still a bit puzzled by the appearance of the objects.

'You'll see,' she said cryptically as he turned it, then she shouted out the entrance, 'Oi Voldemort! Try and get me you great big bully!' then she dived behind the mirror.

'Not the best idea,' Harry said as she pulled him and Ron behind.

'YOU CURSED LITTLE MUGGLE HALFBLOOD WITCH! I'LL KILL YOU ALL FOR THAT!' and with powerful force another red beam shot into the cave, only to be sent back along the same path as it had originated from. Harry shut his eyes expecting a massive explosion or a great cry of pain from Voldemort as the curse hit him, instead all his brain processed was a deafening silence.

***

'Blip?! Is that all?' Mark said in disbelief.

'What did you expect?' Bandy said, 'a big fireball?'

'Well…yeah' he replied.

'Me too,' she agreed.

***

'I'm telling you that's all it was,' Ron argued with Hermione.

'Ron,' she said, fuming again, 'the most powerful evil wizard this century, and he disappears with a _'blip'_!'

'Yeah, so what?!'

'BLIP what!'

While his friends argued in the background Harry moved outside of the cave to where Voldemort had obviously been standing when the beam had hit him. All that remained was the pointed hat he had worn and his broken wand, picking it up Harry looked inside to see the broken steam of a phoenix feather, the brother of which was in his wand. Oblivious to the chatter behind him Harry continued to examine the spot where Voldemort had fallen until a myriad of light patterns fell upon him and he saw the wall opposite begin to merge and shimmer as a new portal opened, out from it stepped Albus Dumbledore.

'Hello sir.'

'Harry.' Dumbledore replied the greeting formally. 'So this is where he fell?'

'Yeah'

'Not the exit he would have liked.'

'Doesn't bother me.'

For the first time in a while, Dumbledore smiled, 'I won't lose any sleep over it either.' With this he strolled past Harry and the arguing wizard and witch into the cavern that Hermione had earlier described as mission-control.

'What do you think sir?' Harry asked as he followed Dumbledore into the cave.

'Think?'

'About this place sir?'

'I think that that is a question that can never be answered, at least not by anyone I know.'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, unless anyone I know is a secret Death Eater in disguise, and admittedly there probably are a few,' he added his eyes twinkling, 'I doubt they would ever tell me what this is for.'

'So what now?'

'I suggest, we go home, and have a cup of nice cocoa with Stephen and 'The Eight', they are a colourful group and I would like to know them better, then I'll apparate them home and, well life will go on.'

'Life will go on?'

'Yes Harry,' Dumbledore said, letting a deep sigh of satisfaction escape from his lips, 'life will finally go on…'

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A/N: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! I finally finished and I hope you all liked it and enjoyed it and now I will answer the question that the story may or may not have answered for you, and the question concerns: a sequel. …Well the good news [if you liked this] is that I have an idea for a sequel in mind and while it won't involve Voldemort [yes he's gone at last] I have an idea that it will still satisfy. But before I go ahead and begin to write…I want some reviews – oh yes, you know they make me happy, and a happy Yoda is a creative Yoda. Keep on writing your own fics [and do email me at my address cos I don't have author alert anymore and can't afford the support services L ] and I'll get back to you all soon. Yoda.


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